Grime Wave: Tide Detergent Thefts Sky Rocket; Masses Turn to Black Market For Essential Goods
Mac Slavo
March 14th, 2012
SHTFplan.com
With real unemployent approaching 25% of the population, 50 million Americans on food stamps, and the prices of essential goods rising every month, it’s no surprise that black market peddlers are turning to new product offerings to make a buck.
In What Is Money When the System Collapses? we highlighted some items that would take the place of traditional currency in the event of a catastrophic financial and economic collapse – things like food, fuel, firearms and footwear.
But for many, the world as they know it has already collapsed. Unable to afford retail prices for home essentials, these people will do what they need to in order to survive, and that includes the bartering and exchange of goods similar to what will happen in a complete economic meltdown. As Brandon Smith of Alt-Market recently pointed out, when the totalitarians squeeze the masses, those rebelling against the system because they have been left with no other choice will turn to the free (black) market to make ends meet.
These most recent thefts have law enforcement officials ‘puzzled’, but the reasons behind them are pretty simple to understand if you consider the bigger picture:
Law enforcement officials across the country are puzzled over a crime wave targeting an unlikely item: Tide laundry detergent.
Theft of Tide detergent has become so rampant that authorities from New York to Oregon are keeping tabs on the soap spree, and some cities are setting up special task forces to stop it. And retailers like CVS are taking special security precautions to lock down the liquid.
One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 in the product over 15 months before he was busted last year.
“That was unique that he stole so much soap,” said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver. “The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”
Tide has become a form of currency on the streets. The retail price is steadily high — roughly $10 to $20 a bottle — and it’s a staple in households across socioeconomic classes.
Tide can go for $5 to $10 a bottle on the black market, authorities say. Enterprising laundry soap peddlers even resell bottles to stores.
“There’s no serial numbers and it’s impossible to track,” said Detective Larry Patterson of the Somerset, Ky., Police Department, where authorities have seen a huge spike in Tide theft. “It’s the item to steal.”
Source: The Daily
The Rest…HERE
